Alaqua Jacobs

 

Raised in the Raleigh/ Greenville area, Alaqua Jacobs is a junior at UNCP majoring in Psychology. It was only right to interview this good friend of mine because he's a big part of how my own style evolved. 

Looking back on his own personal style journal Jacob shares, "I started taking my appearance more seriously the second semester of my freshman year in college. It was because I finally had the freedom to express my style. Half of my childhood I grew up in Greenville and the county schools made students wear uniform and I was never able to express my style and my individuality in a way or my aesthetic. That was something that I took pride in and something that was really important to me. I wrote to essays all the time pleading to get things changed."

Jacobs mentioned that his style consisted mostly of sportswear before he started experimenting. "It was terrible. It wasn't even a match set, just simply Nike and Adidas. I consider myself a Hypebeast now, but back then that wasn't it. I would put a sweater on top of Nike shorts then paired them with long white socks and vans." 

Old Navy was a safe haven for Jacobs before he started getting into thrifting and stores like Urban Outfitters. "I would go in there and people would come up to me and be like... 'Hi! Where's this?' and I'd tell them I didn't work there." 

That was the start of him trying to discover his taste.

"Moving to Raleigh, I finally had the opportunity to do that. I was just starting out and I was terrible at it. I never wore anything, but coming to college, having that independence and not really being surrounded by my family made me feel more free to express myself through my wardrobe."

 He started to develop a frat boyish look having been in the environment of Eastern Carolina University, which was him essentially dressing as a reflection of his environment.

Pulling his inspiration from Pinterest, Instagram and music, Jacobs would describe his current style as a mix of Y2K, urban and 90's. "I look to a female influencer named @dronme because of the layers that she incorporates with her style. I also look to people such as Ricardo, a guy named @dreed and Sage2X."

Walking us through the process of composing a fit, Jacob says, "I like to start with something unique or a statement piece and today I think those are my pants; they're double knee, Urban Outfitters, BDG and they have a faint, but very specific design to them. I just try to incorporate that with something a bit more simplistic. I don't want to be all over the place; focus the attention."

He's also a proponent for prepping his outfits the night before. "If I'm ever bored I'm like 'Lemme put an outfit together.' I enjoy doing it and put some music on. Something I encourage some people to do is try to dress like objects in my room; it's really fun and interesting. For instance, I've dressed like one of the lamps in my room and even one of the plants and the pot itself. I've matched with the camera in my room and a couple of antiques I have."

In terms of color, Jacobs typically stays away from the color red, but has recently made efforts to incorporate some of it. "You can see that in my style and my clothing that I really don't have too much red or bright yellows. My prominent colors are neutral and earth tones. I like to include a lot of green and brown and tan."

"I do online shopping, thrifting and in- store shopping especially in Urban Outfitters. Cities have the best thrift store. Every now and then you can find a nice old/ vintage item in a thrift store. I've personally gotten the most out of thrift stores in Charlotte. I once found a pair of New Balances for like $10 and they were pretty nice. "

Jacobs shops with independent sellers on platforms such as Instagram and on international online stores such as Depop and Jaded London.

When it comes to accessories, Jacobs likes to shop on Etsy and Depop. "If I get a warm tone from my clothing I tend to accessorize with gold and if I get more cold tones, like blues, I tend go for silver. I also like to accessorize with my headphones. It helps with my Y2K aesthetic.

Because of the rural community that Pembroke sits on, Jacob shares that he feels his urban style sets him apart from others.

Hair plays a major role in a persons appearance, so I wanted to hear how Jacobs felt on the matter. 

"My hair plays a major role. I can't go out. This summer I was rocking the afro. I went for a very Florida, beachy, Islander style; so I had the collard shirts, the linen yellow, the shorts that I rocked with the afro. Now with my new style, I'm trying to loc up and learn how to incorporate with the style I have now; that being 90's and Y2K."Before getting into clothing, Jacobs was big on wearing hats and it, in his opinion, would ruin his outfit.

I hope this article was insightful. A special thanks to Alaqua for being a part of this project! If this post piqued your interest and you want to see more of Alaqua, you can find him on Instagram @alaquajacobs